September 30, 2011, 9:45 AM HKT
A Revolutionary Role for Jackie Chan
By Dean Napolitano
In a Movie That Marks a Career Milestone, Action Star Plays an Entirely Different Kind of Hero
For his 100th film, Jackie Chan (成龍) can add a new title to his résumé: revolutionary hero.
His latest film is “1911” (辛亥革命), a sprawling epic about China’s Xinhai Revolution, which led to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty. Mr. Chan stars as Huang Xing (黃興), a true-life military figure who worked alongside Sun Yat-sen (孫中山)—China’s first president—in establishing the Chinese republic. The film also stars Winston Chao (趙文瑄), Li Bingbing (李冰冰) and Joan Chen (陳冲).
Media Asia
Jackie Chan stars as Huang Xing, a true-life figure of the Xinhai Revolution.
The movie reaches a pair of auspicious milestones: It comes on the centennial of the October 1911 Wuchang Uprising, which sparked the revolution. It also marks the 57-year-old Mr. Chan’s 100th movie in a career that’s spanned a half century, including his early Hong Kong action comedies like “Drunken Master” (醉拳) and the hit “Rush Hour” series in Hollywood.
Mr. Chan says that he was drawn to “1911” after the producers approached him to play the role of Huang Xing.
“They explained the whole story,” he says in an interview, detailing the war, the human drama and the historical aspects of the revolution. He was struck by the stories of the revolutionaries, giving their lives in order to advance their cause.
“Then I said ‘wow!’”
The development of modern China, says Mr. Chan, is “because of these people. They died for something. They did not die for nothing.”
He pushed aside work on another movie to hop on board, and it quickly became a passion project. “I’m so proud I’m involved in this movie, because I really learned something,” he says.
Nowadays many Chinese people—both in China and around the world—aren’t familiar with the events of 1911 that changed the course of the country’s history, he says. “Not even my children—even myself—there are a lot of things I don’t really know,” he says. “But now, I realize how very important” the events of 1911 were—they “changed the whole of China.”
Mr. Chan says the trappings of modern materialism have pushed aside interest in history. Children today just know “what kind of telephone they are going to buy, what kind of clothes, what kind of car, what kind of food,” he says. “No. Don’t forget what [the revolutionaries] did for us. … Don’t forget history.”
The film marks another personal turning point in Mr. Chan’s career. In recent years, he has been stretching his talents beyond the action-adventure comedies that made him famous to take on more dramatic roles. Gone are the days of his trademark death-defying stunts, such as his mid-air leap onto a floating hot air balloon in 1986’s “Armour of God” (龍兄虎弟). But he still maintains a busy career, releasing a few films a year and alternating regularly between Asia and Hollywood.
In 2009’s “Shinjuku Incident” (新宿事件) he played an illegal Chinese immigrant in Japan who gets caught up in Tokyo’s organized-crime gangs. It was a dark film without any of the traditional Chan stunt set pieces.
Last year, he appeared in the Hollywood remake of “The Karate Kid,” winning strong reviews for his role as a handyman who mentors a young American boy in kung fu. The film was a huge hit, and Mr. Chan will soon begin work on a sequel.
But he hasn’t completely abandoned action comedy, having also starred last year in “The Spy Next Door” as a secret agent living in suburban U.S.
Reply With Quote
)
